Sabbadini, Alessandro (32626304): Difference between revisions

Alessandro (Alex) Sabbadini was born in Rome to a Jewish family in 1916 and lived 18 years under Mussolini before emigrating to the United States at age 23. On 13 June 1943, he Naturalized as an American citizen while in Algeria by INS Director Henry. Unconscious, shrapnel wound; returned to duty 11 August 1943. Graduate of Special Class (SC) No. Career as professional fine arts appraiser and auctioneer in California. Worked as manager in factory producing smoking pipes. After three years in the U.S. he became one of the first Ritchie Boys and was among the few Italian-born Jews to fight with the Allies in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. He graduated from Camp Ritchie in late 1942, received battlefield citizenship in North Africa before the invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943, and earned the Purple Heart for wounds in the Sicilian campaign. After Sicily and Salerno, he landed at Anzio (Operation SHINGLE, 22 January 1944) near the Sabbadini villa where he had spent summers as a youth, serving with the U.S. Fifth Army. A Fifth Army authority dated 28 August 1943 identifies him as a technician third grade in the Advance Document Section, attached to the G-2 section, and authorizes him to move with the section's vehicle.